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Feature Stories

In support of an initiative by the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP) and development partners to strengthen and improve civil registration and vital statistics (CRVS) in the region, President Benigno Aquino III of the Philippines has officially declared the years 2015 to 2024 as the “CRVS decade” in his country.

Almost 27 billion tons of waste is expected to be produced globally by 2050 as a result of rapid urbanization and population growth. A major portion of this will be generated by developing economies in the Asia-Pacific region.

Small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), which account for 80 to 90 per cent of Asia-Pacific businesses, have played a crucial role in stimulating domestic demand and international trade in the region through innovation, job creation and technology.

Nearly 1.7 billion people in the Asia and Pacific region do not have access to improved drinking water and sanitation .This lack of access is a “silent crisis” that has claimed more casualties through illness than any conflict.

An estimated five billion people will be living in cities by 2030. With the country’s urban population having increased from 18 million to 25 million over the last decade, Viet Nam is seeing fast-paced urbanization, and this trend is expected to continue, exerting pressure on physical urban infrastructure in major Vietnamese cities, including water, sanitation and energy facilities.

Daeng Starch lost her legs and fingers due to leprosy. Yet despite her disability, she can continue to work as a seamstress, producing clothes, pillow cases and flags from her home in the leprosy complex in Makassar, South Sulawesi, Indonesia.

With 650 million persons with disabilities living in the Asia-Pacific region, Daeng’s story is one of many who tend to be unseen, unheard and uncounted. But for this one woman at least, ESCAP’s work has provided a way to hear her story, and to see her too.

China is now changing: as it rebalances its economy away from export- and investment-led expansion to a model of growth based on innovation and domestic demand, it may be entering a new phase characterized by lower growth rates.

Titi wants better for his family. At the age of 13 he moved from an outer island to South Tarawa, the capital of Kiribati, to accompany his older sister who had found employment with the Government. Titi's family moved with him in the hope of better opportunities for the family, however, like many small islanders, Titi never found formal employment which would allow him to create a secure environment for his family.

In the event of an El Niño associated drought due to low-rainfall during the summer monsoon, India’s GDP could potentially fall by $23 billion, says a new United Nations assessment on the possibilities and policy options for governments attached to the impacts of the El Niño weather phenomenon in Asia and the Pacific.

The normalization of monetary policy in the United States, which began with the tapering of quantitative easing by the Federal Reserve at the beginning of this year, may have a significant impact on economic growth in Asia-Pacific developing countries.